Tuesday, May 13, 2014

Still a Fisherman

Being a lifetime fisherman, I consider it a solid insurance policy to carry a spare rod and reel as an emergency backup whenever I’m on a fishing trip. Having a dozen lively jumbo shrimp in the boat's bait well to provoke a strike from an uncooperative cobia or tripletail is always a good idea, too. Sooner or later, these types of insurance usually pay dividends.



Today you can buy insurance coverage for everything from Alien Abduction to Pet Health. A prime example of the extreme infatuation we humans have with sharing our risks is an article from a June 2012 Forbes' called “Thirteen Types of Insurance a Small Business Owner Should Have.” The story  suggests a minimum of thirteen types of insurance for a small business owner to buy, but it's difficult to believe anyone could afford thirteen different kinds of insurance. And if a business does buy this much coverage, doesn't the cost get passed on to the consumer?



A wise man once told me you only buy an insurance policy to save yourself from complete collapse, or as protection from a disaster that could break you permanently. In my opinion, the need for insurance is limited directly to one's risk. You should only buy coverage if you can't maintain your lifestyle without it.



On this note, I'd like to mention a recent experience. After not being able to afford health insurance for the past couple of years (because of a pre-existing condition), it was with great concern that I stopped into Chris and Maggie Robertson's One Insurance Group in Melbourne, Florida, to shop for health care coverage. After checking out the Federal Exchange, I opted to visit their local business hoping they'd share a little more insight with me on the benefits of the Patient Protection & Affordable Care Act.



What I heard was pleasantly surprising. The Patient Protection & Affordable Care Act, aka ObamaCare, was signed into law in March 2010 and upheld by the Supreme Court in June of 2012. It is not the nightmarish debacle we've been led to believe it is. From what I can see, our family will now be able to afford health insurance for the first time since I had a pacemaker/defibrillator dropped into my chassis back in 2010.



It's not for all folks, but much needed relief for small business owners like us who paid over $1200/a month for 7 years — until we hit the $100,000 mark — then we stopped. 


Complete collapse is a little less likely now! 





Rodney Smith, CEO of Little Pond Publishing;and author of Catching Made Easy and Enjoying Life on the Indian River Lagoon is a visionary and community leader who like to share his tales. Download these books digitally on Amazon, iTunes and Barnes and Noble by searching "Rodney Smith+Name of book"; or order the soft-covered books online!  See all of Rodney's upcoming events and exploits at www.rodneysmithmedia.com.